Interactive Prototype I: Testing

Outcomes

Users were asked to use a modified keyboard to play a basic version of the game and provide feedback.  The coloured dots on the screen corresponded to coloured dots on a keyboard (arrow keys).

Most users played the game as expected multiple times.  One user wanted to get the best time possible and tried to manipulate the keyboard in different ways to achieve this without interacting with the game in the desired way.  They tried mashing the keys and pressing random keys.  Another user  could not see the difference between the colours on screen and had to stop part way through their first go.

I measured user feedback through observation, in-person questions and an online questionnaire. The data from these measures can be found here.

The feedback I was after was about the movement of the different elements on screen (how the dots and cat moved in relation to each other) and how the timer effected gameplay.

Reflections

The interactive format for the prototype was a good way to get more detailed feedback on how the game is played.  It allowed me to see users play the game and what obstacles they came up against.  It became apparent quite quickly that the colour similarity was a problem and even stopped one user from completing a level.  Other feedback I received about the movement confirmed that it wasn't clear what moved when (and what was the next colour) but didn't provide much of a solution to this.  I then discussed this problem further with tutors.

Testing with a user who wasn't from class was really useful, I found my discussion with them quite different as they were less limited by what they knew to be possible.  It was also more validating to get feedback from someone who knew less about the concept/background to start with.  I would like to expand upon this for the next test.  The testing protocol and questionnaire worked quite well but it seem like the questionnaire might be a bit too long.

Effectiveness

The prototype worked really well and I was able to answer the specific questions I had about movement and apply the feedback about the movement.  The main problem with the prototype was that the colours I had selected were too similar which caused problems for some users.  One user was unable to complete the session at all as they could not tell the colours apart, others had some problems but could still complete the level.

Constraints

The constraint of the testing session meant that even though I knew I had a problem early on with the colours, I was unable to change it for other users.  It would have been better if I could have changed this as soon as I knew it was a problem so users could concentrate on other elements like movement.  To be able to change this on the fly would have taken time that I did not have in the session.

Implications

Changes to my concept

• make colours more different from each other and add patterns for easier visual identification (and accessibility) 

Future prototypes

• Interactive Prototype 2  (IP2)
• make colours more different from each other and add patterns for easier visual identification (and accessibility)
• move controls further away from each other
• add audio feedback to wrong control pressed
• change cat/dot layout to make it clearer which dot is next
• fix bugs in start/stop/pause
•  Future prototypes
• on-screen feedback for wrong control pressed
• add movement to cat
• change timer from count up to count down
• make background change colour with timer (sunshine to night timer)
• make start/stop easier (enter or other control)
• add in the extra bits (power-ups, levels, etc) (maybe IP3)
• add high scores/previous score
• add exit button

Future testing sessions

• Reduce length of questionnaire